While watching a particular portion of a presenting media content event, a viewer (interchangeably referred to herein as a “user”) may not completely understand what is being shown in the video portion of the presenting media content event. Alternatively, or additionally, the viewer may not completely understand the spoken audio portion of the media content event. Alternatively, or additionally, the viewer may not completely understand the reference to a particular element of the media content event because the viewer is not familiar with the topic or subject matter of the media content event, may not natively speak the language being spoken in the dialogue of the audio portion of the media content event, or may not be familiar with the background or history of the reference. In such situations, the viewer may become confused because they are not understanding or comprehending the subject matter of the presenting media content event, at least for some brief duration.
The viewer may use a supplemental electronic device that has a screen or display to access various information sources associated with the confusing subject matter. For example, the viewer may operate a browser operated by the supplemental electronic device to access clarifying supplemental information about a topic that is related to the source of confusion. In such situations, using the second screen of the supplemental electronic device to find the clarifying supplemental information, while concurrently watching the media content event, takes a viewer out of the viewing experience and may further distract the viewer, even to a point of ruining the presentation experience for the viewer.
Alternatively, or additionally, the user may pause presentation of the media content event, and then operate their media device (which is processing the media content event for presentation) to obtain supplemental information to clarify and/or provide supplemental information. For example, the user may access a different media content event that was referenced in the currently presenting media content event. Alternatively, or additionally, the media device (or a presentation device communicatively coupled thereto) may be operated to access a remote information source such as the Internet or the like so that the viewer can obtain clarifying supplemental information. Here, pausing presentation of the media content event and using the media device to access the clarifying supplemental information takes a viewer out of the viewing experience and may further distract the viewer, even to a point of ruining the presentation experience for the viewer.
A relatively large amount of data or information, visual and audible, may be presented for every single shot in each portion of the presenting media content event. For some viewers, the relatively large amount of data may cause potential confusion at various times during the presentation of the media content event. Accessing and then presenting any clarifying supplemental information to the user could be very time consuming. To illustrate the problem using a hypothetical example, consider the situation wherein Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is speaking at the Rosa Parks Transit Center in Detroit and uses the phrase “back of the bus” while speaking about Rosa Parks and her legacy. A viewer who is unfamiliar with the civil rights movement in the United States may be watching Mrs. Clinton's speech, and may not understand what Mrs. Clinton is speaking about with regard to the phrase “back of the bus.” For example, the viewer may become confused because they were born before the civil rights movement and/or may have been born outside of the United States. Thus, the viewer may not be aware of the historical context that is associated with the phrase. It would be desirable to access and present clarifying supplemental information about Rosa Parks and the origin of the phrase “back of the bus” to the viewer. Preferably, the clarifying supplemental information may be presented to the viewer in a timely manner without any break in the viewer's viewing experience in viewing the presenting media content event.
Prior art systems have been configured to provide and present various forms of clarifying supplemental information to the user. For example, metadata with the clarifying supplemental information, or with selectably active Internet links to remote sites that can provide the clarifying supplemental information, may be encoded into the stream of media content that is being received at the viewer's media device (wherein the media content event is provided to the media device in the stream of received media content). The information may in the metadata may be detected by the media device, wherein the media device then may operate to access and present the clarifying supplemental information. However, such processes require a priori knowledge of the viewer's confusion on the part of the content producer, and/or requires at least an expectation that confusion will arise for a particular portion of a presenting media content event, so that the content provider can incorporate the believed-to-be relevant clarifying supplemental information into the media content event.
Further, the content provider can, at best, only guess at what the source of confusion is on the part of their viewer. That is, the content provider may assume for example that a portion of the audio content is causing confusion to the viewer, when in fact, the viewer's confusion is arising from some aspect of the presenting video portion (that is unrelated to the subject matter of the dialogue) of the presenting media content event. Here, the viewer will be presented clarifying supplemental information that is unrelated to their actual source of their confusion, which may even further create additional confusion on the part of the viewer.
Accordingly, there is a need in the arts to provide meaningful clarifying supplemental information to a confused user in a timely manner. Further, such clarifying supplemental information needs to be correctly directed to and associated with the actual source of the viewer's confusion (and not to some other aspect of the presenting media content event).